The seventh edition of the ICC T20 World Cup was held in 2021 in the Middle East, across the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
Originally, this edition was meant to be held in Australia in 2020 but due to COVID-19, the event was postponed.
The ICC confirmed that the event would be hosted by India in 2021, but in June 2021 the ICC once again changed the host nation due to growing concerns over the pandemic situation in India. Thus, the UAE and Oman got the hosting rights.
The World Cup was divided into two stages, the Group stage and the Super 12s. India, along with the top nine ranked ICC Full Members qualified for the tournament directly. Out of these 10 teams, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and the six teams who qualified through the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup qualifiers were put into the Group stages.
The top 4 teams from the Group stages would qualify for the Super 12s.
Group A matches were held in the UAE and Group B matches were held in Oman. After the conclusion of the Group Stages, the Super 12s consisted of 2 groups.
Group 1: Australi, Bangladesh, England, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies
Group 2: Afghanistan, India, Namibia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland
Here are the top 5 matches from the 2021 T20 World Cup.
1. Australia defeat favourites Pakistan in heart-breaking over
Unbeaten Pakistan faced Australia in the second Semi-Final at the Dubai Sports City on November 11.
Pakistan batted first and their prolific opening pair of Babar Azam (39) and Mohammad Rizwan (67) started the innings strongly. Some late order hitting from Fakhar Zaman (55 off 32 balls), including an assault on premier Australian quick Mitchell Starc lifted Pakistan to a commanding score of 176.
Pakistan looked the favourite to reach the final when the Australian captain Aaron Finch was trapped lbw on the third ball of the innings. David Warner (49) and Mitch Marsh (28) kept them in the chase but Pakistan would not go down without a fight. Shadab Khan put the brakes on the run chase with four wickets for just 26 runs.
Australia needed 22 runs in the last two overs when the ball was given to the star pacer, Shaheen Shah Afridi. The decisive moment of the match was when Matthew Wade was dropped in the 19th over by Hasan Ali at deep mid-wicket. Wade did not needed another chance as he slogged and ramped Afridi for three consecutive sixes to seal the game on the last ball of the 19th over. Deservedly, Wade was named Man of the Match and he put the only dent in Afridi's glorious 2021.
